Chapter 73 - The Jiang Prefecture Affairs
Edited by NZRose
Lin Shu understood their meaning.
It was recorded in the ancient books that Hu Qi was born after the plague was rampant and 10,000 people died. And five years ago, Jiang Prefecture, not far from here, just had a plague.
After all, ancient medicine was limited. Once a plague was born, if it was not cured, the plague would spread and cause widespread death. According to Cang Min’s statement, the plague five years ago was fortunately passed without danger.
But Ling Xiao’s words turned quickly, referring to the dead here.
Did he suspect that these dead people, Hu Qi, and the plague were related to each other?
If so many people really died of the plague, they would meet the conditions for Hu Qi to be born. But, if this was the case, how could these corpses come to the bottom of the Ten Thousand Ghosts Abyss cliff? Moreover, this was also inconsistent with Cang Min’s saying, “without danger”.
Lin Shu looked at Ling Xiao.
As he saw Ling Xiao’s cold eyes swept over the mountain of bones as if in deep thoughts
Cang Min looked at the ancient book again and said, “The appearance of Hu Qi recorded here was all after the great pandemic. It is said that the people who died were deeply resentful, blended with the disease, and gave birth to evil things.”
Ling Xiao: “There must have been a deception in Jiang Prefecture.”
Cang Min: “It would be too bold for the sheriff to deceive and conceal the epidemic situation. And how did these corpses get into the Ten Thousand Ghosts Abyss?”
Ling Xiao said: “I will check.” Then he continued, “And one more thing.”
Cang Min: “What is it?”
Ling Xiao took out the cold jade box that sealed the “Returning Yang” lotus, opened it, and said, “Smell this.”
Previously in the Ten Thousand Ghosts Abyss, the clamminess and the cold air were too severe, and there were many rancid smells on the bodies of the evil creatures, so Lin Shu did not smell it clearly. Now that he was out of that ghost place, Ling Xiao opened the box, and he asked about a faint and seemingly absent fragrance.
If the fragrance was a little stronger, it would be very similar to the smell of incense and candles in a Buddhist temple.
He immediately thought of the necklace pendants that the two woodcutter brothers had hung on their necks before.
Ling Xiao said that the pendant had the fragrance of worship incense. He also thought about whether it was a cult organization. Now he wants to come to the conclusion that the two brothers were evil minions who rely on “Returning Yang” to return the Yang?
The strength of Hu Qi was very strong. It will take many years to return to life. However, it would have been easy for one or two small minions who have no magic power to return to life.
Ling Xiao said indifferently: “You’ll know after a try.”
He picked up Lin Shu and jumped up the cliff, Cang Min followed.
The cat untied the boundary, and the two brothers were still hanging in despair. They did not break free from the shackles. Seeing them coming, they immediately struggled and said, “Immortal, please spare us!”
——Obviously, they had malicious intentions before and wanted to cooperate with the Demon Iron Vines to kill them. He didn’t know how many people who came to Ten Thousand Ghosts Abyss were successfully killed before them, but they still asked: “spare us.” People who were self-aware would not be so wishful thinking.
Therefore, the performance of these two people from beginning to end was really a bit exaggerated, which made Lin Shu more sure of his conjecture.
People who don’t have complicated brain circuits can think of it, and Cousin can think of it even more.
He saw Ling Xiao brought them up, coldly watching the two brothers struggling for mercy, and opened the cold jade box again.
At the moment when “Returning the Yang” emerged from the cold jade box, the two brothers were stunned, their bodies stiff, their eyes dull, and they slowly looked towards Ling Xiao: “You...you... .”
“How about us?” Ling Xiao said
The eldest one was suddenly excited and struggling: “You deserve to die!”
Cang Min said: “Since you have returned your Yang, you just need to live a peaceful life. It makes no sense to harm others and say that we deserve to die!”
Eldest brother: “Bah!”
Ling Xiao’s tone became milder at this time: “You stayed here, killed the incoming people, and nourished the Ghost Abyss, but what are the difficulties?”
The eldest and the second brother said in unison: “You deserve to die!”
Ling Xiao lowered his eyes and said faintly: “The Jiang Prefecture plague five years ago, was it related to this matter?”
The two said in unison: “Bah!”
Ling Xiao raised his hand slightly, and a cluster of reddish flames lit up at his fingertips: “If you don’t tell me, I have to burn your souls for torture.”
Eldest and second brother: “Bah!”
Ling Xiao did not care how sonorous and powerful their “Bah” was, and continued: “If so, naturally someone is the master who makes decisions for you.”
“We don’t believe it!” the two said.
Lin Shu: “...”
Now that they said they didn’t believe it, then someone really needed to be the master for them. The two men were evil creatures with low spiritual force before returning to Yang, and their brains were obviously not good after returning to Yang.
“You two brothers were here to wait idly for an opportunity. If anyone comes, no matter if they were immortal or mortal, they will all be deceived down the cliff and be killed. Since both of you are here, there must be other evil things turned into living people. For example, you can disguise as Mr. Youfang, looking for people with serious illness in their families, luring them here, and then you can kill them. Over time, there will be many people.”
Ling Xiao said: “If it is an immortal who looks older and seems to have an extraordinary cultivation base, you let it go. Today, you saw that we are all youngsters, and didn’t expect to have much spiritual force, yet unexpectedly it has backfired, is that so?”
The two brothers stared at him with a stupefied look.
Lin Shu was just as dumbfounded as they did.
——Cousin’s IQ, is this kind of a mere mortal can imagine? It is too few to draw inferences from one instance, and it is more than enough to oppose 300. For Cousin, as long as there is a clue, the whole thing can be inferred.
After the two men were dumbfounded and tongue-tied, it took almost a while before they recovered.
The second brother said: “There are sleeping ghosts.”
Ling Xiao: “Sleeping ghost?”
“There’s a tax official. If you can’t pay your taxes, you can only wish to die. We brought him here and say that if you jump off the cliff, you can have a good life in the next life.” The eldest one laughs: “Most of them were one family.”
It turns out that this tax official is not sleeping.
“In this way, you have hated the dynasty for a long time.” Ling Xiao’s voice was very low, almost muttering to himself: “Where does this resentment come from? In order to prevent the spread of the plague and fear that it would be exposed, they put tens of thousands of living people into Ten Thousand Ghosts Abyss. Resentment, sickness and anger were entangled, giving birth to Hu Qi, and Hu Qi nurtured you and raised you again...”
The two brothers said in unison again: “You should die!”
Ling Xiao asked, “How many people have you killed?”
Eldest brother: “Countless.”
“How many tax devils?”
“Countless.”
“How many medicine seekers?”
“Countless!”
“How many immortals?”
“A dozen or so!”
“How many of you?”
“Countless!”
Ling Xiao said: “It is also a great cause.”
“It certainly is!”
A cold light flashed by, and the sound of “Dong Dong” was heard, two heads fell to the ground, and blood splashed.
Ling Xiao took the knife and said, “Let’s go.”
Cang Min’s face was pale and his lips moved. He seemed to want to say something, but he didn’t say it after all. Only “En” came out.
On the journey, he said, “What about the other evil things that have become human?”
Ling Xiao said: “I will send a letter to Sister Xiao, she will mobilize the Imperial Guards to thoroughly investigate the case of Mr. Youfang and the disappearance of the nearby villages and towns in the six states.
Cang Min said: “Okay.”
Walking out of the realm of Ten Thousand Ghosts Abyss, Ling Xiao stretched out his hand to untie Lin Shu’s snow fox cloak, he put it away, and asked him, “I just killed someone, did it scare you?”
Lin Shu shook his head.
Ling Xiao said: “That’s good.”
Lin Shu thought the two men were manipulated by Hu Qi, killed mortals, and nourished Ten Thousand Ghosts Abyss with their lives. Although there were hardships, the sins were really unforgivable.
However, the Hu Qi needed to rely on those who had been killed to strengthen their strength. While strengthening their strength, they were waiting to reinstate the people. If they had not been discovered, and if they had succeeded, it would have been a great disaster.
But after all, the reason was a bit shameless.
In the evening, they settled down in an inn in a small town.
In the middle of the night, Lin Shu was about to sleep, but the door was knocked. He opened the door and the one who came was Ling Xiao from next door.
Cousin said: “I’m leaving now.”
Lin Shu couldn’t digest the meaning of these words for a while: “Huh?”
Ling Xiao came in, sat down at the table, poured two cups of tea, and said, “Sister Xiao told me to protect you up the Huandang Mountain. I consciously protected you well.”
Naturally, it was good.
It was more than good, it was perfect.
Cousin went on: “Now that I’m finished here, I am a person of Jianghu. I can’t intervene in Jiang Prefecture’s affairs. Sister Xiao is free and can come to pick you up in a few days... I’ll go back to the mountain to cultivate, so I’ll leave you alone. ”
Lin Shu was a little bit upset for a while and didn’t know what to say. After looking at Ling Xiao for a long time, he could only choked out a sentence: “Take care.”
Cousin smiled, stretched out his hand, and scratched Lin Shu’s nose.
Lin Shu: “...”
The second time!
He just listened to Cousin’s warm voice: “You also have to take good care of yourself.”
Lin Shu: “I will.”
“I don’t know when we will meet again next time, and I have nothing to give you,” said Ling Xiao. “I just went out and bought this outside.”
He took out a simple white jade hairpin, put it on the table, and said, “It’s not a rare thing, but I think it will look good on you.”
It seems that he’s used to receiving things from the Big Miss, but he was still a little nervous about accepting gifts from Cousin. Lin Shu thought about it for a while. He had nothing to give back to Cousin. He could only say, “I don’t have anything...”
Cousin said with a smile, “Then you can prepare for it later and I’ll see you next time.”
Lin Shu: “Okay.”
Ling Xiao looked at him again and said, “You should go to bed early. I’ll leave after a while. You don’t have to send me off.”
Lin Shu felt that he had a lot of things to say, but his language skills were still limited, so he didn’t say anything. He could only say, “You should pay attention to your safety.”
Ling Xiao said: “Naturally.”
Then he went over and touched the cat and said, “I’m leaving.”
The cat “meowed”, turned over, and continued to sleep.
Lin Shu looked at Ling Xiao.
Ling Xiao said: “Take care.”
Lin Shu: “Take care.”
With the sound of the closing door, Cousin’s footsteps gradually moved farther away in the corridor. Lin Shu grabbed the window and looked out. After seeing Ling Xiao’s figure, there was only a full moon outside, and a few lights made his heart feel a little bit empty.
It was cold in the middle of the night, and he closed the window and lay on the bed. After turning over a few times, he couldn’t fall asleep, thinking that the so-called parting feeling does exist in the relationship between people. If he had such a good friend in his last life, he would perhaps get more points in appreciating and reading ancient poetries.
The next morning, he got up to eat and passed by Cousin’s room. He felt that last night’s farewell was a little unreal. He also thought that after all, it was not good to walk on the road late at night. Cousin might still be there, so he knocked on the door.
No one answered, but the bolt was loose.
He pushed lightly and the door opened.
In front of the bronze mirror in the room, sat a beauty in red palace clothes, with black hair, and a pile of bottles and jars in front of her. She was drawing an eyebrow at the mirror.
Lin Shu: “!”
Ling Fengxiao turned her head and smiled: “You got up so early.”
Big Miss, you have come early too.
TL’s Corner:
Rose: So obvious~
Zaki: But he still couldn’t get it..sooo frustrating ugghh!!
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